The Queen’s X factor

When the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee this week, millions will pay their respects and party with her. We’ll forget about our economic woes, and revel in street parties, bunting and souvenir supplements.

Her continued ability to command respect is the envy of all other public figures. (See my column in the American Spectator) Everyone else, from the Prime Minister to the Governor of the Bank of England and visiting heads of state, are regularly lambasted by the media, on the Internet and in casual conversations throughout the country. But not the Queen. Aside from a bit of gentle TV satire and a blip after the death of Princess Diana, she is rarely the butt of personal criticism, even by the 20% of Britons who are republicans.

One explanation is that there must be a cynicism stopcock, which protects monarchs. Yet, as the future King Charles will surely discover, a public so ready to condemn wouldn’t hesitate to mete out the same treatment to the most obvious target of all.

More likely, it is the Queen’s dignity that protects her – stemming from her curious combination of stately celebrity and monumental blandness. She never gives an interview, or even an opinion, meaning that we have little idea what she thinks about anything. Even her Christmas message never contains anything memorable, consists mainly of platitudes, and is delivered with stupendous vocal monotony that makes me and my fellow media trainers squirm.

Yet, while such insularity is frustrating, it is that very characteristic that has preserved her aura.